Suspect Arrested in String of Fast-Food Outlet Robberies

Acting on an informant’s tip, sheriff’s deputies have arrested a Pasadena man as a suspect in robberies of 20 fast-food outlets and franchise restaurants in Southern California, most of them in the San Gabriel Valley, in the last year and a half, authorities said Monday.

Doyle Ray Jones, 43, whose robberies allegedly netted between $100,000 and $150,000, was asleep at his girlfriend’s house in Pasadena when a special weapons team arrived there early Sunday, sheriff’s deputies said. He gave up without a struggle.

Investigators said Jones and a partner preyed on food outlets near freeways, hitting them in the early morning hours as workers prepared to open. “They’d usually go in through the kitchen with handguns drawn,” said Detective Deiter Gerlach of the Sheriff’s Headquarters robbery unit. “They’d secure the workers, using duct tape or handcuffs, then force the manager to open the safe.”

Locked in Refrigerator

Workers were frequently forced into their restaurants’ walk-in refrigerators, after which the robbers drove off on the nearby freeway, Gerlach said.

Jones, who will be arraigned Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, will be charged initially with five counts of first-degree robbery, but investigators believe they will be able to link him to at least 15 others. Aiding the identification has been Jones’ practice of wearing a Band-Aid on his cheek during the robberies, investigators say.

“He’s easy to pick out because of a distinctive mole on his cheek,” Gerlach said. “Because of his fear of being identified, he would wear a Band-Aid.”

Jones’ regular partner, Jimmy Prince Love, was arrested last July at Detroit Metropolitan Airport when he disembarked from an airplane. An airport X-ray security device had detected a semi-automatic weapon in Love’s suitcase, and police arrested him when he claimed the bag after the flight.

Handcuffs, Drugs

Love, 25, was also in possession of handcuffs, duct tape and a quantity of illegal drugs, Gerlach said. He was arrested just two days after the two suspects allegedly held up the Charley Brown’s restaurant in Marina del Rey, the detective said.

Jones apparently brought in another partner, Gerlach said, because Jones is a suspect in two robberies committed since Love’s arrest, including the hold-up of a Pasadena Sizzler restaurant in November.

According to investigators, Jones has been identified by witnesses in connection with the robberies of two In-N-Out Burger outlets in Diamond Bar and Baldwin Park in June, 1986, Chili’s in the City of Industry in August, 1986, an In-N-Out Burger in Arcadia in December, 1986, and Charley Brown’s in Marina del Rey last July.